Just a quick note to let everyone know that I’m still on vacation (and mouse-less). I won’t be able to answer any contact requests or comments until the beginning of January. Sorry!

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Lilleknurhår of Thunderhorn (US) writes in with the following question:

My guild is doing Zul’aman, and my question is about two of the chest-drops which you get there. One is [Robes of Heavenly Purpose] and the other one is [Shimmer-pelt Vest]. As you know, one is leather and one is cloth. I went to ZA with my guild, and got the “Robes of Heavenly Purpose”, although some of my guildmates couldn’t see the point in a Druid wearing it since it’s cloth and say that the Shimmer-pelt Vest is better for a Druid. Currently I’m wearing my cloth chest, and I’m very happy about it. I dont think I would change to the leather chest even if it dropped … but am I the one who is wrong?

I’m glad that Lille wrote in with this question. I recently picked up the Shimmer-pelt vest myself and have been wondering how it compares to its cloth counterpart. I personally have no qualms about picking up a cloth item if has superior healing stats (although all things being equal, including aesthetics, I’d opt for the leather item). This, of course, does not apply to PvP where our ability to turn into a Bear can be so helpful. So let’s do a quick comparison of these two items.

While the Shimmer-pelt Vest is pretty straightforward, the Robes have 3 sockets (2 blue, 1 yellow) to worry about. My preference for slotting these would be 2 x [Royal Nightseye] and 1 x [Dazzling Talasite] since, as you know, I value mana regeneration. If we assume that we’ve slotted the Robes in this way, here’s the breakdown of what you would gain and lose from opting to wear the cloth chest piece over the leather one:

Obviously the leather chest piece wins out in overall survivability with higher Stamina and Armor. However, since switching to Bear Form is not generally the preferred method of dealing with threat in PvE, I wouldn’t place too much emphasis on the additional armor. Let’s consider the other stats. The leather chest piece affords you an additional 120 mana and 6 MP5 at the expense of 15 Spirit and 27 +Healing. With the recent changes to Intensity and assuming that you have Living Spirit and use Innervate as often as you can during boss fights (where mana is more likely to be an issue), Blizzard’s current item value for Spirit matches up fairly closely to its value for MP5. That is, 2.5 SPI = 1 MP5. That makes the 6 MP5 gained basically cancel out the 15 Spirit lost. That simplifies our comparison to the following:

Now it comes down to your personal preference. If you’re trying to bolster your +Healing value and are happy with the size of your mana pool, I’d say go with the cloth chest. If you want to increase your longevity a bit, choose the leather. Either way, the two items are so close in value that I’d recommend deferring the cloth to Priests first since they don’t have the option to pick up the leather chest. (If the cloth were far and away better than the leather chest piece, I wouldn’t necessarily make this consideration.) Of course, the aesthetics of the cloth chest piece might be reason enough for you to opt for it over the leather chest, but still politeness seems to imply that you would wait for a run where no other cloth wearers need it before rolling. Both chests drop from the introductory bosses of ZA so you’re likely to see plenty of both.

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Here are a few more great blogs to read that you may not have found yet. These plus your current subscriptions should help tide you over since many authors (including myself) aren’t blogging as frequently due to the holiday!

“Nimh” by Minkee of Minkee’s Illustration Blog

• 4 Haelz A great new Restoration-based Druid blog by Bellwether of Dark Iron (US). I’ve directed several visitors to her list of “Pre-Kara Level 70 Resto Gear”, a great resource for any newly-minted Restoration Druid!
• Ardent Defender A large number of writings from Galoheart of Zangarmarsh (US), a Protection-specced Paladin. Includes posts on a diverse number of topics. A recent find (for me), but a great one.
• Blue Priest Pathos of The Scryers (EU) shares his perspective on levelling a Priest (the “Blue” is because he’s a Draenei). A fun read!
• Coralin of Spirestone Coralin is a Feral Druid currently writing of her experiences instancing, questing, and levelling in Outland.
• Blood Paladin Zerei of Skywall (US) is a prolific blogger writing on such diverse topics as instance-running, Jewelcrafting, itemization woes, and healing as a Holy Paladin.
• Girl Meets WoW Imagine my surprise when I discovered I hadn’t already linked and given a shout out to Girl Meets WoW, a blog from … well … a girl who plays WoW! Great writing and a nice selection of subject matter make this a must-have subscription.
• Rawr Kitty Kitty Nelthilta of the Forgotten Coast (US) is a brand new Druid blogger writing about things from the Feral perspective. (Credit to Bigbearbutt for this find.)
• RP Stories A blog about roleplaying in World of Warcraft. As someone who has always had at least a passing interest in in-game roleplay (mostly reaching back to my early EverQuest days), I was thrilled to find this great blog.
• The Stealthin’ *Essys While Deressy of Runetotem (US) plays several different characters, her blog so far has a decidently Druidish bent!
• They See Me Trollin’ Delmain of Arthas (US) is a recent addition to the blogging scene, writing about his experiences as both a Shadow Priest and a member of one of the minority races on the Horde side.
• Tiddly! Tiddlywinks of Cenarion Circle (US) writes an awesome-looking blog about his time in Azeroth as a Gnome Mage.
• Tree Iz 4 Healz Arianas of Gilneas (EU) is a new Resto Druid blogger who proudly states that “perennial woody plants are for restoring health and well being.” And how!
• Yet Another Warlock Nerf YAWOWN is primarily Warlock-focused but also covers other topics of interest to all players, including a collection of ways to make money in-game.
• Zanderfin’s WoW “Casual” Raiding Leiandra of Bronzebeard (US) leads a self-professed “casual” raiding guild whose progression is pretty closely in line with that of my own guild. Her blog is well-written and sure to be relevant to anyone just entering SSC and ZA.

And while Minkee’s Illustration Blog isn’t necessarily devoted to World of Warcraft specificially, it’s authored and illustrated by Minkee, one the readers here, and does include some truly stunning artwork, including the image of a beautiful Tauren Druid shown on this article. It even includes an RSS feed so you can subscribe and see each new piece as it’s posted. Truly excellent!

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Happy Winter’s Veil, everyone! I’ll be out of town until after the New Year visiting family. Therefore, posts (if any) are likely to be infrequent.

The Twelve Days of Winter’s Veil

On the twelth day of Winter’s Veil, Blizzard gave to me …

“Enchanted Lights” by Christina DeLong

12 Druids Drumming (on Drums of Restoration) 11 Boomkin Spamming 10 Cats a Leaping 9 Bears a Dancing 8 Taurens Milking 7 Seals a Swimming 6 Crows a Laying 5 [EPIIIIIIIIIIIC Rings] 4 Swiftmends 3 Lifeblooms 2 Quillvine And a Stormcrow atop of Me!

Dogfighting above Shattrath

Want to have a little fun with friends … or better yet, Druid friends?

/cancelform /use Snowball /cast Swift Flight Form

Source: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3466288341&sid=1

Everyone Loves Cookies

Gingerbread Cookie Use: Restores 61 health over 18 sec.  Must remain seated while eating.  If you spend at least 10 seconds eating you will become well fed and gain 2 Stamina and Spirit for 15 min.

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup molasses

Sift the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and baking soda in a bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, blend the butter and brown sugar until combined. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then the molasses. Slowly add the flour mixture. Mix well after each addition of flour. The dough will be stiff.

Divide dough in half, flatten into 2 thick circles and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm enough to roll out.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll out, cut into desired shapes and bake until golden brown.

Recipe by Johanna Rosson

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